As mass layoffs continue at big tech companies, workers can find opportunity, purpose and a surprising skill fit in the health care sector.
Faced with rising costs and widespread economic uncertainty, big tech companies continue to lay off skilled workers en masse. From Meta to Twitter, Amazon to Stripe, AirBnB to Zillow, network-effect-driven platforms across industries are weathering the highest inflation in 40 years and right-sizing their workforces while facing the effects of overemployment in recent years.
But there is a silver lining in the dark clouds of Big Tech consolidation, and it’s in the healthcare industry.
Layoffs at big tech companies present opportunities for both former employees and new hires. [+] Healthcare Industry
Getty
Whether you’re a big tech employee discussing your next career move or a healthcare company in need of the technology and network effect experience of a big tech company, mass layoffs mean that there is a wealth of available tech talent, and many companies, and entire industries, will benefit.
Why Big Tech is making a big shift into healthcare
Healthcare is a great landing spot (and a fantastic opportunity) for big tech companies for three reasons:
1. The healthcare industry is a safer option.
The healthcare industry is much better equipped to weather tough economic times than other sectors of the economy. For example, during the Great Recession, healthcare spending continued to increase despite negative economic growth, job losses, and consumer anxiety and stress. Healthcare was also one of the few economic sectors to experience a net gain in employment from late 2007 through 2010.
While they may not be immune to short-term challenges (such as layoffs, restructuring, and disinvestment within their own companies), from an economic standpoint, the healthcare industry has proven to be incredibly resilient. For employees of major tech companies, finding a foothold in healthcare means intentional, planned change in economically uncertain times.
2. Discovering the benefits and meaning of healthcare technology development
The pandemic has altered the employment landscape in many ways, with large numbers of resignations signaling a shift in worker priorities and a desire for a different kind of work-life scenario. According to a 2021 Gartner survey, 65% of employees said the pandemic has caused them to reconsider the place work should occupy in their lives, and 56% said it has made them want to contribute more to society.
A 2022 McKinsey survey similarly found that 70% of employees say their personal sense of purpose comes from their work, and that when they feel their work is meaningful, they perform better, work harder, and are about half as likely to look for a new job. And a previous McKinsey survey from 2020 found that 82% of employees want their company to have a purpose and contribute positively to society.
But reconciling Big Tech developments with purpose and personal fulfillment can be difficult. Much of what Big Tech produces, especially the flashy and eye-catching stuff (gamification, the metaverse, etc.), has little social value. But healthcare, and healthcare technology in particular, is something else entirely. The work and technologies being developed can and already have a direct impact on people’s lives and health.
Compared to other industries (and even among big tech companies that have come under scrutiny for questionable profit- and network-effect-first practices), working in healthcare tech offers one personal benefit: a mission and purpose in the field that other industries lack. Finding this purpose can be a welcome change for technologists looking for more meaning in their work, while also helping to improve their mental health and well-being.
3. Healthcare needs big tech skills
There are big problems in healthcare, and countless ways to use technology and data to solve them. And increasingly, there are platform and network effects. Following in the footsteps of big tech platform companies like Amazon and Apple, healthcare companies are leveraging their platforms to find new and novel ways to solve long-standing systemic industry problems.
Unfortunately, while platforms have become a common business model for tech companies in other major industries (social media – Meta, Twitter, TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, etc.; retail – Amazon, Etsy, eBay, etc.; finance/banking – PayPal, Venmo, Zelle, etc.; housing/lodging – Zillow, AirBnB, VRBO, etc.), healthcare has lagged woefully behind.
There are several reasons why healthcare has historically been slow to adopt and grow platforms (and why there are a handful of growing numbers of digital health platform success stories, such as Surescripts, CoverMyMeds, and GoodRx). Platform businesses are notoriously hard to scale in any industry, but the healthcare industry is especially challenging because it is complex, fragmented, and highly regulated. Healthcare technology companies, especially those that operate as platforms, also require a very specific type and level of expertise to operate, grow, and scale.
At the same time, platform companies are particularly well-suited to address challenges unique to healthcare, where issues arising from a lack of unified data and massive fragmentation impact everything from care coordination and quality to cost and patient/consumer experience. Given that many of the healthcare industry’s problems stem from information asymmetries and the overall difficulty of navigating the system, there is also a huge opportunity and need to build community-driven businesses in healthcare (e.g., Doximity, Accolade).
Big Tech talent from sectors outside of healthcare can also contribute to improving and redesigning the consumer health experience. Large consumer platforms like Amazon have been using data-driven, consumer-centric optimization strategies to guide development for years. Big Tech talent can bring fresh perspectives and timely experience to the healthcare industry, which has historically lagged behind in terms of data strategy, user engagement (UI/UX), and software engineering.
For these reasons, large technologists, especially those from platform companies, will find a home in healthcare, where both incumbents (hospitals, health systems, health plans) and digital health companies need technologists who understand consumer-driven experiences and how platforms work, and can bring specialized skills and experience to an industry that demands them.
Big Tech’s loss could be healthcare’s gain
The lesson for big tech companies looking for where to go next? Healthcare needs you. There is a huge opportunity in healthcare to do good through technology and digital strategies. And the timing is great, as the market is only set to grow and is (fairly) recession-proof.
What are the lessons for healthcare companies and investors? There’s a massive pool of talent at big tech companies looking for meaning, mission, and stability in their work. Find a way to reach them, identify the problems only they can solve, and tailor their platform experience to have the greatest impact on your company and the industry as a whole.
The war for healthcare tech talent is on. It’s up to healthcare companies and investors to use Big Tech’s losses to healthcare’s gains and capture Big Tech talent to help solve healthcare’s biggest challenges.